Fighting ants in the lawn: 10 natural home remedies

Ants maintain balance in nature. They feed predatory and thus keep the garden clean. At the same time, they loosen the soil and fertilize it. However, the ant colony lives in the race, that has some disadvantages. They throw up mounds of earth and partly destroy the grass. But you don't have to resort to the chemical club right away. There are a number of natural home remedies for ants in the lawn.

Ant species

Some species of ants, including the most common black garden ant (Lasius niger), feel at home in our gardens. And the yellow garden ant (Lasius flavus) also likes to build its nests in the lawn. But even if the animals have many positive characteristics and are active as effective pest killers in the home garden, they can sometimes become a nuisance. Especially when the grasses are affected by the construction of their nests. The yellow garden ant can produce mounds of earth up to the size of a molehill in the meadow. Around 500 workers live in such an ant colony, and in individual cases it can be significantly more.

Combat

Both fighting and driving an ant colony out of the lawn is difficult because of the way the animals live and reproduce. Like bees, these insects live in a state in which not every single ant, but only the queen reproduces by laying eggs. The rest of the population consists of workers who take care of building nests, caring for the eggs and obtaining food. To fight the ant colony, the queen must be killed or forced to move.

tip: The yellow garden ant breeds a certain type of lice underground, the honeydew of which the animals feed on. This is why the workers do not leave the nest very often to look for food and are therefore difficult to bait.

Baking powder / baking soda

One of the most popular home remedies for an ant plague is baking soda. However, since baking soda is not one of the insects' natural sources of food, it must be mixed with a suitable attractant such as sugar. The mixture is then placed near the anthill. The workers eat not only the sugar, but also the baking powder. They bring both into the nest, where it is fed to the other members and the queen. It usually doesn't take long for ants to die. As the composition of baking soda has changed in recent years, it is less effective. Experts advise using baking soda instead.

• powdered sugar
• Baking soda
• Mix in a ratio of 1 + 1

Coffee grounds

Coffee grounds scattered on the ant nests are carried inside the nest by the workers. There the insects eat it and thus also absorb the caffeine in the coffee powder. Caffeine is deadly to both adults and their brood. The coffee grounds are even better accepted if they have been mixed with a little powdered sugar.

Cornmeal

For gardens with lots of children or pets, maize meal is a particularly ingenious weapon for controlling an ant population. Cornmeal is not inherently toxic, either to humans or to pets. However, an ant cannot tolerate maize meal and dies after consuming it.

Sucralose sweetener

The sweetener sucralose is also safe for children and pets. It is therefore ideal for lawns where small children are (such as day care centers, kindergartens and schools). You simply sprinkle the sweetener on the anthill and the insects die a short time after ingestion. It may be necessary to sprinkle some sweetener again after a few days.

Expel by smell

If you don't want to kill the ant colony in the lawn, you can motivate the hymenoptera to move. There are natural home remedies for this alternative too. Since ants orient themselves to smells, they are very sensitive to strong aromas. If you spray the ant nests repeatedly with strong fragrances, in the best case scenario the whole colony will move out because they can no longer orientate themselves under these conditions.

vinegar

Bowls filled with vinegar, placed around the ants 'burrow, are too much of a good thing for the ants' sensitive olfactory organs. Refill the bowls regularly. Vinegar has a very pungent, pungent odor. Vinegar is a natural home remedy that does not harm the environment in small amounts.

tip: Vinegar is an acid. Contact with the eyes and mucous membranes can cause irritation. Therefore, it is better not to use vinegar when there are pets, small children or sensitive people in the garden.

Mediterranean herbs

Herbs are also effective home remedies for ants. They contain strong fragrances that drive away the odor-sensitive animals. You can plant the plants in the meadow near the colony or spread the leaves and stems around the ant nest. The following plants are particularly suitable:

• anise
• Citronella (lemongrass or lemongrass)
• lavender
• marjoram
• peppermint
• sage
• thyme
• Lemon balm

Essential oils

The corresponding essential oils of the above mentioned plants are even more effective. When using oils, add a few drops to a spray bottle of water. It makes sense to add a little washing-up liquid so that the oil mixes better with the water. After shaking, spray the ant nest in the meadow with the mixture for several days in a row. The essential oils are available in many drug stores, health food stores or pharmacies.

• Citronella oil (lemongrass or lemongrass)
• garlic oil
• Lavender oil
• Marjoram oil
• Neem oil
• peppermint oil
• Sage oil
• Thyme oil
• Cinnamon oil
• Lemon balm oil
• lemon oil

Perfume

If you still have an old, cheap perfume at home, you can put a few drops of it on the ant nest in the garden. The perfume overlays the scent traces of the insects, so that they are forced to take off their clothes in order to continue to orientate themselves in their surroundings.

Nettle liquid manure

Anyone who has ever prepared a liquid manure knows how intense it smells. So if you want to drive unpleasant guests out of your lawn and at the same time do something good for the plants in the lawn, you can Nettle liquid manure to grab. The completely natural household remedy, with which the garden is otherwise fertilized, scares the ants off with the smell, so that in the best case, they leave their burrow voluntarily.

• about 500 g of fresh nettles
• leaves and stems cut into small pieces
• 10 liters of water
• mix well

Cover the jar with the mixture and let it stand for about a week. Then pour the brew over the nest. This process may be necessary several times.

Vermouth slurry

The hymenoptera can also be driven out of the meadow or lawn with wormwood. To do this, prepare a homemade liquid manure made from dried or fresh wormwood and pour it over the ant nest.

• about 300 g fresh wormwood, cut into small pieces
• alternatively 30 g dried wormwood
• 10 liters of water

Place a wooden board or an air-permeable lid on the vessel and leave the mixture in a sunny, sheltered place outdoors until no more bubbles form. Then strain the solids and pour the brew with the watering can (fine shower attachment) over the ant's nest for several days in a row.

Relocate ants

In general, of course, the question arises as to where the ants should be driven. Just a few meters further? In the neighboring garden? If the actually very useful insects in your lawn are slowly becoming a nuisance and cannot be controlled or driven away, you should simply relocate the ant colony. To do this, you need:

• plant pot
• Wood wool

Place the flower pot filled with wood wool with the opening facing down on the anthill in the garden and wait. After a few days, the ants begin to move their nest into the flower pot. Once the pupae are in their new accommodation, pick up the pot with a shovel and relocate the ant colony. So that the animals do not return to their old nest, the new location should be at least 30 meters away.

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